A red-bellied woodpecker

There's a male red-bellied woodpecker that's been a regular at our feeder this spring, making occasional, but not infrequent, forays to snag LOTS of seeds, presumably to cache at least some of them.

This post from a couple of years ago has better pictures, with more explanation!

Today's photo (the only one I managed to get) was quite blurry -- but it was fun to see him visiting, in any case.

a male red-bellied woodpecker at the feeder

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Nature journaling and watercolor fun

Writing a blog about nature and gardening is really nature and garden journaling, but I've always wanted to practice real-time with sketching and art, too, but found the format intimidating, even though I loved drawing and art when much younger.

So an all-day workshop around using watercolor in your nature journaling, taught by Elizabeth Ellison, a wonderful artist based in Bryson City, NC at the NC Arboretum, was a wonderful way to encourage myself towards some watercolor artistic expression.

I've never done watercolors before (aside from pen and ink colored ones), with only a dabble into watercolor pencils, but have always loved watercolor art (and wanted to do it.)

I had a totally fun day -- great to learn some techniques and play with color.  I'm signed up for another class (much longer) in a couple of weeks.  It'll be fun.

Here are some of my impressions of trees and mountains, and a container planting (our "subjects" today).

mountains, evergreen trees, and deciduous trees

evergreen and deciduous trees

inspired by a container planting!

heading off with (pristine) art supplies

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Growing peanuts

I can't claim that I've ever grown peanuts, even after living in the South for 3 decades.

I know it's possible. One of my younger colleagues grew giant Spanish peanuts with the kids in one of our after-school programs (at the botanical garden where I worked, and now volunteer) some years ago.

Peanuts need warmth and space. They flourish in the coastal plain of SC and GA.

So I found this article in the NY Times quite interesting; here's a fellow trying to grow peanuts in NYC.  Lovely!  And learning more about the history of peanuts -- fascinating.

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Penstemon digitalis "Husker Red"

Penstemon digitalis in the pocket meadow

Penstemon digitalis (in the pocket meadow) is looking lovely now, in full flower. Its lovely clear white flowers are a great addition to the mix!

Penstemon digitalis

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Neem - The organic insecticide

Neem is one of my favorite things to use when it comes to controlling disease and pests. Its Organic, and as you all know when growing your vegetables, why use anything that wasn't organic.

You want to get a 70% Neem Oil Like this one!

As Mike McGrawth, Host of "You Bet Your Garden" says,  "I like [to] use neem oil as the oil form of this plant seed is a very effective anti-fungal. (In another, harder-to-find form, neem acts as an anti-feedant; and if pest insects eat anyway, they die. You go, neem tree seed!) 

Anti-fungal! Do tell you say!

Neem oil can be used to treat a number of garden ailments, including:

• Insects: Neem oil kills or repels many harmful insects and mites, including aphids, whiteflies, snails, nematodes, mealybugs, cabbage worms, gnats, moths, cockroaches, flies, termites, mosquitoes, and scale. It kills some bugs outright, attacks the larvae of others, and repels plant munchers with its bitter taste.
• Fungus: Neem oil is also effective in preventing fungal diseases such as black spot, anthracnose, rust, and mildew.
• Disease: As if that wasn’t enough, neem oil also battles viruses that can harm plants.

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Flame azalea and Eastern hemlocks

We've gardened in our neighbor's yards on both sides of our house in the mountains (with their permission - so not guerilla gardening, but shared landscaping).

It's been fun to replace weedy things with desirable native plants, ones that restore some mountain habitat to an old urban neighborhood (and the formerly weedy woodland ravine behind the house).  This has my gardening companion's major gardening focus (and a welcome break for him). I appreciate the results!

A flame azalea and a couple of Eastern hemlocks were additions to the "blue house side"-- along with a number of other things.

flame azalea and Eastern hemlocks

The flame azalea (Rhodendron calendulaceum) is beautiful right now.

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Carolina rose

We've enjoyed our Carolina rose: we planted it last year and it's flourished.

This is how it looked this afternoon. Lovely.

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